Pages

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Five Ways to Support a New Mother

This post is inspired by World Breastfeeding Week,
hosted annually by The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) from
August 1 - 7.The WBW theme for this
year focuses on peer support for breastfeeding women, especially in the
community, among family, and from health care providers.According to WABA, peer support is the best
way to ensure that women who are having difficulties, or who have returned to
work, continue to nurse their babies.

I want to share five ways anyone can support a new
mother, and although these tips are especially helpful for breastfeeding
mothers, they are also helpful to women who are bottle feeding (pumping or
formula).

Because breastfeeding can be difficult to maintain
after a woman returns to the workplace, I also include specific information on
how coworkers can assist their lactating colleagues on the job.Several women have told me how lack of time
to pump at work led them to end breastfeeding sooner than they otherwise would have.This situation creates a spiral of less
nursing because missed pumping sessions reduce supply, which leads to more use
of formula, which leads to less nursing, etc.

Our efforts to support lactating women are
important in all areas of our lives: in the family, at home, in our
neighborhoods, at the workplace, in public, and at worship.I hope you are able to put these simple
suggestions to good use supporting a new mother and her baby.

Five Simple Ways to Help
a New Mother

1. Bring her a meal.This is especially helpful during those early days at home when baby is
very hungry and mother needs to heal from the birth.A lactating mother needs a hearty healthy
meal and plenty of snacks to keep her milk flowing, her energy up, and to
promote healing.If she has other
children, she will benefit from the rest instead of preparing a meal for
them.While many women are fortunate
that a family member can help out during this time, some mothers do not have
any help, and most family members return to their own homes after a week or
two.

If
you are supporting a lactating coworker, You can offer to bring her some
takeout for lunch, or to pick up a dinner for her to take home to her
family.This is especially helpful when
she first returns to work and her whole family is adjusting to their new
schedule.

You
can even organize a crew of volunteers to bring meals to a family with a new
baby by contacting the new mother’s friends, family, neighbors, and
coworkers.Care Calendars makes this
easy; all you have to do is set up a schedule and then send an e-mail to those
who might want to help.They sign up and
the information is sent to the new mother and the calendar coordinator.You could even arrange this before the baby
is born!

2.Offer to watch the baby or her
older children.New
mothers need their rest, and even though everyone will tell her to sleep when
the baby is sleeping, she may not be able to, especially if she has other
children.Keeping the baby or other
children occupied for just an hour can let the new mom take a much needed rest
without interruption.

You can help a coworker by watching her desk or
phone and assuring anyone who tries to find her while she is pumping that she
will return soon.Also, before she
returns from maternity leave, you can ask others to help you clean the
refrigerator in the break room so the pumped milk can be stored in a sanitary
place (you know how yucky a workplace fridge can get sometimes).

3.Run an errand or help with a
house chore.We all
know how difficult it can be to get to the store with a newborn, especially if
that baby does not like the car seat.Offer
to pick up items while you are running your own errands, or ask if she needs
something to help with breastfeeding, her post-partum bleeding, or her personal
hygiene.Same for a coworker; running
errands after work might mean the baby will have to wait to nurse, which is not
helpful to either the mother or child if they have been separated all day.

Laundry can pile up with a newborn around, so if
you are visiting the new family, offer to help place something in the wash or
fold things that are already dry.Maybe
the floor could use a sweep or the sink a wipe down.

4.Listen.Sometimes, mothers
need to share what is happening to them, or ask questions about how they are
feeling. She may want to gush about the
baby, talk about how her life has changed, or simply have a conversation with
an adult (instead of a baby or children) about something entirely
different.Indulge her; she will
remember your kindness later.

Your coworker may have questions about readjusting
to work life with a baby, how to handle a situation with her baby’s caregiver,
or a work project that was completed during her maternity leave.Returning to work while caring for a young
baby can be distracting, to say the least; your offer to listen or chat can
help tremendously.

5.Pray.This is an easy one, especially if you are
already in the habit of praying for those who are healing or going through a
major change in their lives.There is
much to pray for: healing, health, rest, learning to breastfeed, smooth nights,
energy to complete daily tasks, patience, and so much more.

What are your ideas for supporting a new
mother?I am fortunate to have
benefitted from the kindness of others in all of these ways, especially after
the birth of my second child.In fact,
the help of friends was crucial to my breastfeeding success the second
time.You can read my stories about how
I handled breastfeeding difficulties here and here.

Notice: This blog may contain advertising links to
venders I have an affiliate relationship with.This means that if you click on one of these links, a window to that
vender’s website will open.If you shop
for products on the vender’s site and make a purchase, I may receive a small
commission on what you buy, even if you purchase items during a later
visit.I appreciate your support of this
blog.You can read more about how I
choose my affiliate relationships here.

2 comments:

My mother-in-law brought food over and offered to do our grocery shopping the first couple of weeks after our babies were born. It was such a huge help to us. It may not be as cute, but I guarantee a new mom will appreciate these things more than yet another baby sleeper or receiving blanket.

Follow this blog

Website Translator

Grab my Button!/ Coge mi botón!

I am linked with/Estoy enlazado con

Estoy participando

About Me

I’m a mother, college instructor, and published poet who blogs about the intersection of these lives. Currently, I’m very interested in healthy eating and living, teaching my daughters how to live faithfully in a secular world, and integrating my writing career into a very busy life. You can contact me at tercets[at]yahoo[dot]com.